Digest

Tarpon church to expand in Pasco

By Times Staff Writer
Published October 30, 2007

TRINITY  

Hospitals fought over it. Businesses like Starbucks, Bonefish Grill and Cork & Olive got a piece of it. Now this southwest Pasco hot spot has landed another kind of pricey development: a $17-million church.

First Christian Church of Tarpon Springs has proposed a new Trinity campus to include a worship auditorium that seats nearly 1,000 people.

Why the move to Trinity? For some of the same reasons that commercial developers have chosen it: a population of young families, professionals and retirees. Proximity to the Suncoast Parkway and to Pinellas County.

"That area has exploded over the last four, five years," said Roy Erskine, the church's business administrator. 

DADE CITY

Banned by Democrats, now banned by Disney

John Russell dislikes Florida's current Democratic Party leaders. And lucky for him, he's not a fan of Mickey Mouse, either.

After a confrontation with party officials Saturday during the state convention in Orlando, the former Democratic nominee in the 5th Congressional District was banned from ever returning to any Disney-owned properties.

"I don't care," Russell of Dade City said Monday. "I hate Disney."

The scuffle - captured on video and posted Sunday on the Internet - shows convention organizer Mitch Kates confronting Russell for allegedly trying to display signs touting John Edwards for president on a table paid for by a vendor.

Russell denies the entire story. He said Kates pushed him hard enough to provoke a fight.

Democratic Party officials earlier this month banned Russell from attending a major fundraiser for Pasco Democrats.

As state party spokesman Mark Bubriski explains: "Yeah, he is not allowed at the events because he's proven to be a disturbance. He worries us when we have to deal with him."

TAMPA

Man dies in lumberyard machinery accident

An industrial accident inside a lumberyard claimed the life of a Zephyrhills man Monday morning, according to Hillsborough County Fire Rescue officials.

Raleigh D. Wilson, 48, of 40026 Mockingbird Lane died after he was struck by a board at a manufacturing company, according to the Hillsborough Sheriff's Office.

Wilson was walking between two pieces of machinery at Robbins Manufacturing Co. about 7:50 a.m. when the board hit him and forced him into another machine that folded his body backward, said Hillsborough Fire Rescue spokesman Ray Yeakley. Wilson died at the scene.

Officials with the company at 13001 N Nebraska Ave. declined to comment.

SCHOOL SCRUBBED down in staph precaution: One Hernando County school got an unscheduled scrubbing over the weekend, after a single case of illness at Deltona Elementary raised the possibility of staph infection. Or not. "We don't have any students with any documentation of any infectious disease at this point," said Jim Knight, director of student services. "We're just erring on the side of caution."

What will be built?

The first phase of Generations Christian Church at Trinity includes:

20,000square-foot worship auditorium

19,000square-foot children's ministry building

11,000square-foot worship facility and hangout for middle school and high school students

10,000square-foot cafe and bookstore

Future phases to include an administrative building and sports fields.

[Last modified October 30, 2007, 00:00:50]